Announcing the 2014 Graduating Class!

Your Mom and Dad are proud of you…and so are we. Many racers over the past couple of years have really distinguished themselves by their accomplishments on and off the bike.

So… we’re graduating a whole slew of racers to the next class up. That’s a real accomplishment. Really we all aim to get better, and you have. Congratulations.

Because at the Heart of Over the Hump, our goal is to keep the newly or uninitiated racers having a place to race; where there has not been one before. OTH is unique in that it has been engineered to accomomdate new racers, and non-racer/enthusiasts. One of the ways we do this is by helping accomplished racers move up through the ranks…creating space and making the opportunity for previous racers the opportunity to push themselves and raise the bar on their own accomplishments.

As you have experienced, every baby step can at times feel like walking on the moon. High School to College, Single to Married, or Dot.com tycoon to Elite Bike Rider by day (or garage trainer at night)….each step forward can create that unsettling feeling of stomach acid churning in the middle of the unknown. That said every change in life leads to a step of growth. This year, over 60 racer, more than 10% of OTH Racers are graduating to a faster class, which makes room for the class below them to move up and be competitive, based on the below moves.

You get to grow, get faster and push yourself in a whole new class. You get to become a better athlete, a more experienced racer, heck you’ve earned the next Tae Kwan Do belt of OTH. AWESOME!

Based on amazing accomplishments and outstanding performance, in the “Discipline of Bike Race and Two Wheeled Fun”, we’d like to announce the graduating classes of 2014.

Based on amazing accomplishments and outstanding performance, in the “Discipline of Bike Race and Two Wheeled Fun”, we’d like to announce the graduating classes of 2014/2014.

Our graduates are:

Beginner Men 24 (24-) Graduates to Sport 29

Pos

Bib

Name

Sponsor

Age

1

454

Corey Diez

Empire Bikes

22

2

537

Zach Rusich

16

3

257

Konstantin Budnikov

thinkASG/TWOP

22

4

387

Corey Adams

17

5

241

Nick Penrose

Beginner Men 29 (25-29) Graduates to Sport 29

1

379

Scott Burtness

Kawasaki

26

2

254

Kevin Heiner

thinkASG/TWOP

29

3

266

Cesar Ruiz

28

4

264

Ryan Cavalieri

27

5

358

Travis Griffitts

WIN-TEAM Racing

27

6

647

Jordan Powell

Surf City Cyclery

Beginner Men 34 (30-34) Graduates to Sport 39

1

490

Sam Wiernucki

Redzone Racing

31

2

175

Abraham Rodriguez

RokForm

32

3

388

Dusty Woodard

thinkASG/TWOP

30

4

663

Whit Batchelor

33

5

221

Daniel Evans

Fullerton Bicycles

34

6

553

Travis Smith

Atomic Performance

7

412

Brent Harden

30

8

505

Dan Quick

Specialized

33

9

388

Dusty Woodard

thinkASG/TWOP

30

10

260

Ryan Forest

Linked Cycling

29

Beginner Men 39 (35-39) Graduates to Sport 39

1

504

Katz Abe

2

226

Wes Hale

Team White Tortilla

37

3

385

Rafael Vargas

Empire Bikes

37

4

746

Paul Wolsey

35

5

287

Patrick L Nguyen

38

6

677

Jeff Schwartzman

Shocks and Awe

39

7

416

Jared Fisher

35

8

677

Jeff Schwartzman

Shocks and Awe

39

9

130

Paul Bennett

Pure Racing

Beginner Men 44 (40-44) Graduates to Sport 49

1

354

Mike Askin

42

2

105

Jack Chou

RokForm

40

3

565

Mike Emerson

Troy Lee Designs

41

4

429

Scott Hannah

Redline Studios

43

5

584

Michael Maeda

43

6

394

Bret Bowen

40

7

363

Jason Findahl

40

8

179

Jeff Laubscher

41

9

720

Dave Leary

Empire Bikes

44

Beginner Men 49 (45-49) Graduates to Sport49

1

687

Scot Grierson

RokForm

49

2

306

Steve Walton

Fullerton Bikes

46

3

258

Greg Lasiewski

Kawasaki/Fox/Spy

46

4

573

Barry Kyler

45

5

169

Randy Schwarz

Blue Park Crew

46

6

808

Darrin Edwards

48

7

391

Randy Pinkerton

48

8

470

Robert Sima

Fullerton Bikes

48

9

451

Steve Rounds

Mountain Bike Mafia/The Path

46

10

447

Ronald Estrada

46

Beginner Men 50 (50+) Graduates to Sport 50+

1

704

Todd Hunsaker

50

2

615

Paul Buckland

Rock N Road/Crankbrothers

51

3

305

John Hunt

54

4

742

Mark Hinds

WIN-TEAM Racing

54

5

463

David Matea

Velo Allegr

6

496

Sidney Harris

thinkASG/TWOP

Beginner Women Graduates to Sport Women

1

177

Erin Colshan

Fullerton Bikes/Crankbrothers

27

2

339

Michelle Pacetti

Foothill Dirt/The Path Bike Shop

16

3

556

Jennifer Walsh

thinkASG/TWOP

30

4

519

Amy Rambacher

SoCal Endurance Ladies Team

33

5

293

Taffy Eitman

Pure Racing/Liv/Giant

39

6

485

Vanessa Elfend

Knobbe Martens IP Law

30

Sport 1 Men (29-) Graduates to Super Sport 44-

1

375

Ama Nsek

14

2

397

Jeremy Kneisly

TLD :: The Path

28

3

650

Ben Bennett

Foothill Dirt/The Path Bike Shop

16

4

361

Charles Ridal

Buena Park Bikes

27

5

398

Chris Taylor

The Path Bike Shop

16

6

403

Patrick Bleckert

27

7

457

Mike Vakula

Chips/Pizza/Cookies/Coffee

Sport 2 Men (30-39) Graduates to Super Sport 44-

1

526

Chris Kutzmarski

33

2

176

Adrian Osuna

Hoppy Trails

33

3

402

Kristofer Stewart

RokForm

38

Sport 3 Men (40-49) Graduates to Super Sport 44- & 45+

1

807

Thomas Teger

KeyShot

47

2

315

Rhio Griego

HSU Racing/MMI Stunts

43

3

431

Steve Horvath

Velo Allegro/Oakley

44

4

111

John Potts

Team Toyota/B4B/Oakley/RokForm

43

5

285

Mark Woodward

Mach 5 Racing

44

6

754

Charles Stephens

Stage21/Cannondale

43

Sport 4 Men (50+) Graduates to Super Sport 44+

1

492

Mike Okano

Simple Green/Cannondale/Stage2

55

2

274

Mark Christopherson

RokForm

56

3

473

Jeff Ward

Surf City Cyclery

52

4

785

Eric Gier

Team Velocity

51

5

662

Ross Bennett

Foothill Dirt/The Path Bike Shop

6

590

Glen Wells

Canyon Velo

Sport Women Graduates to Elite Women

1

567

Christine Pai

G2 Bike

28

2

230

Hannah Binder

Canari Navy Cycling

16

3

440

Xylena Hoppen

El Toro High School

SuperSport Masters Men (45+) Graduates to Elite 45+

1

607

Scott Raymond

BBI-SIC

49

2

798

Theodore Posch Jr

Fullerton Bikes/Giant Bicycle

47

3

400

Frank Schroeder

BBI-SIC

52

4

642

Garry Summers

BBI-SIC

48

5

302

Doug Farnham

REGARDING CLASS REVIEWS:There will be very few reviews of the movements in each class. Some racers may be right on the fringe of a possible move, and based on our selection criteria, and objective class delineators they have currently been left in their existing class; that does not mean that throughout the season, they cannot be moved in the future. If they perform outside of that class’s definition they may be asked to reclassify themselves.

For those of you who already asked to move after race 1 or 2, thank you, and congratuations. This list is not exhaustive but is our best attempt at keeping the classes even and competitive within the current race community.

If you feel you’ve been unjustifiably identified to move; and remember Over the Hump is fun, not your how you make your living (we hope), you may request a review. We won’t review all the requests, it would just take too long. We will read each, however. We will respond only to ligitimate reasoning, submitted in the spirit of Over the Hump, as well framed and objective reasons for why you feel you fall in a different category. You may email your request to info@raceoth.com

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[…] **Note: before submitting questions about wrong leaders in each category note 75% of the classes have been adjusted to show the correct classification for racers who previously raced in lower classes than they are capable or appropriately placed. (Click to see the changes) […]

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The popular Over The Hump Series™ (OTH™) was started in 2009, and has quickly become one of the most popular cross country mountain bike racing series in the country, drawing 425- 600 racers weekly. OTH is designed to be a fun, relaxed event for everyone. Race courses are designed to challenge all levels of riders, and give participants a great place to experience the fun and excitement of mountain bike racing. It’s become a model for how to make mountain bike racing fun again.